Means for guiding fabrics into stentering and other machines



Jan. 12 1926. 1,569,077

a. DURRANT MEANS FOR GUIDING FABRICS INTO STENTERING AND OTHER MCHINES Filed Oct. 14, 1924 2 sheets-sheet 1 Jan. 12 1926. 1,569,077

G. DURRANT IBAN S FOR GUIDING FABRICS INTO STENTERING AND OTHER MACHINES Filed Oct. 14, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet P 4150f I" IP71 22 20 25 icm i O J I I l 5 I171 l\ 1s wm rq a Patented Jan- 926.

GEORGE DUBRANT, 0F FAIRFIELID, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

MEANS FOR GUIDING FABRICS INTO STENTERING AND OTHER MACHINES.

Application filed October 14, 1924. Serial No. 743,542.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE 'DURRA T, a subject of the King of Great Britain and .Ireland, and resident of Fairfield, Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain Improvements in Means for Guiding Fabrics into Stentering and Other Machines.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for guiding fabrics into stentering and other machines with the object of keeping such fabric in a central position as ittravels forward into the machine and has reference to that type of apparatus in which a pair of rollers is employed at each longitudinal side or selvedge of the fabric, such rollers having their axes at a slight angle to the weft of the fabric so that if imaginary lines were drawn through the said axes they would bisect at the centre of the fabric. In this type of apparatus one of the rollers of each pair is rotated at a constant speed whilst the other roller is free to revolve by frictional contact with the cloth but only when it is brought into contact therewith, the object of each pair of rollers being to draw the fabric away from the opposite pair when such fabric moves out of the longitudinal centre line of the machine into which it is being guided, each pair of rollers acting independently of the other pair and being brought into action by the lateral movement of the fabric itself.

In the aforesaid type of apparatus my invention consists essentially in improved means for controlling the movement of the movable roller such means consisting of a gravity or spring controlled feeler arm and intermediate mechanism adapted to operate a movable wedge or cam device designed to lift the lower guiding roller into contact with the underside of the fabricnear the selvedge so as to cause the pair of rollers to elevation from the inner end of .ther modified means for actuating the lower guiding roller,

Fig. 6, front elevation of the means shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 front elevation of still further modified means for actuating the lower uiding roller.

In all t e figures of the drawings like parts are indicated by similar reference characters but my invention will be first described with reference to the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to 3. In such figures a indicates a suitable base frame to support the whole of the parts of the guiding ap paratus, such frame being carried by one of the side frames of the stentering or other machine. At the upper portion of the frame a is a roller I; mounted upon a shaft 0 supported at one end only by bearings (Z, such shaft carrying a driving pulley or wheel 6 for giving constant rotation to the roller Z) which is located above the cloth to be guided into the stentering or other machine, the cloth resting upon a smooth plate f carried by the frame a. The plate f is slotted at g and in line with said slot is arranged a vertically movable roller h freely mounted in spring-controlled bearings i, such bearings being connected together behind the roller by a cross member j provided with a long bearing is mounted upon a stud m to enable the roller to be freely lifted and lowered about such stud. The cross member j 7 1s provided with a central boss resting upon an adjustable screw 7?. by means of which the roller can be set to the required height. The screw 11. is supported in the free end of an arm 0- pivoted at p to an upstanding ear 9 forming part of the frame a, such arm 0 supporting a free roller 1' whilst below this roller is another free roller 8 carried by the ears t upstanding from the frame a. In. conjunction with the aforesaid rollers I employ means for separating them so as to lift up the lower guide rollerinto contact with the underside of the fabric. These means consist of an arm it provided with a wedge-shaped end adapted to be pushed between the rollers such arm being freely mounted on an arm v forming part of a lever L pivoted at a? to theframe a such lever having another arm on which is freely mounted a double-armedlever 1 adapted to be rocked about its pivotalcentre through the action of a feeler device which depends for its motion upon the movement of the cloth in a lateral direction. This feeler device consists of an upstanding arm 2 pivoted in bearings at 3 and adapted normally to bear against the selveilge of the cloth. The arm overhangs its .centre that always tends to follow the cloth when the latter moves laterally to the right but it 2; is 'a spring. Forming. part of the arm second arm a which is provided with a forked end 5 to freely embraceone arm of the lever 3 so. that such 161 61 18 roe/(ed about its centre so .as' to depress one of ts arms and raise the other so as to bring its ends alternatively int cOntact with adjust able projections 6 carried by a lever? pivoted on the stud Ssupport-ed by a boss 8 in the machine frame, such lever 7 having an upstanding arm 10 supporting a studflll upon which is freely mounted a vro r 1.2. The lever 7 is oscillatedabout its stud 9 by means of a disc 13 formed with a cam projection 14!, such cam being'lixed upon a shaft 15 driven by a pulley or wheel 16 from a suitable source. The roller-12 is kept in contact with the disc l3by means of a spring 17. i

The apparatus described ,acts. follows So long as the, cloth is passing into the stentering or other machine correctly the lower guide roller h iSOUi) of contact with the fabric, but when the latter moves to the right it is followed by the feeler arm 2 which causes the second arm 1 to rock the lever 7 about its pivotal centre so. as to bring one of its arms in thepath of the left hand projection 6 ig. 2) of the lever 7 and consequently as the cam projection 14.- on the disc'13 comes round the projection 6 carried by the lever 7 is caused to push the lever y endwise so moving the lever to about its pivotal centre to push the wedge-shaped endof the arm a between the rollers r and s, lifting the roller 1 and with it thearm 0 and through the latter lifting the cross member so as bring the roller it into; contact with the underside of the fabric. The lat- ,their pivotal centres. hand end of the lever y isv depressed as correctly into the machine.

ter is then gripped between the roller 7L and roller b such gripping action causing the fabric to move to the left so as to push back the feeler arm 2 as the fabric reaches its central position. The action of the feeler arm 2 rocks the lever z about its pivotal centre in the opposite direction and so brings its other end in the path of the other projection 6 of the lever 7 thereby rocking the lever to about its pivotal centre and withdrawing the wedge shaped end of the arm u from below the roller 7' so allowing the lower guide roller h to descend. out of contact with the fabric.

In the modified form of device shown in Fig. 4, the movement of the wedge member u is carried out by. different mechanism that isto say instead of moving the double armed lever g through the action of a pivoted lever operated by a cam disc I employ two arms 18 pivoted at 19; such arms being coupled togetherby a link '20 to which is connected a spring 21 which normally pulls the arms towards the left position as shown in Fig. may be assisted in the movement by a light 1. In conjunction with these arms I employ a rotating disc 22 provided with radial projections 23 for moving the arms 18 about Thus when the left shown in Fig. 4L, the rotation of the disc 22 forces the arms 18 towards the right, so that-the left hand arm 18 comes in contact with the left hand end of the lever g and pushes the lever w about its pivotal centre so forcing the wedgemember it between the rollers'r and s. This action iscaused by the initial movement of the feeler' arm 2 towards the rightas explained in the connection Figs. 1 to 3. When such arm is brought back to its normal position by the centering of the cloth the lever 3 is rocked in the opposite direction about its pivotal centre. so bringing its right hand end in contact with the left hand arm 18. The spring 21 then pulls both arms 18 about their pivotal centres to the left so withdrawing. the wedge-shaped member it away from-the rollers r and s causing the lower ide roller h to descend out of contact with the fabric.

In the modified form of device shown in Figs. 5 and tithe wedge-shaped member 1!, .is dispensed with and likewise the lower roller 8 and in place of such wedge-shaped member I employ a disc 24 mounted on a shaft 25 or pin, mounted in arms 26 upstanding from the frame a. This disc is cut away at 27, the roller 1" normally resting in the depression when the fabric is moving 7 v The disc however is capable of being turned to the right or-left about its pivotal centre. To do this there is freely mounted on the latter a threearmed lever 28, the upper arm 29 of which is coupled by a link 30 with an eccentric 31,

crank pin or the like which is driven at a constant rate so as to oscillate the lever about its pivotal centre. The other two arms 32 of the lever 28 have pivoted to them pawls 33 which are normally pulled towards the pivotal centre by springs 34 so as to engage with notches 35, forming teeth, in the disc 24. Below the shaft is freely pivoted a Vshaped lever 36 on centre 37, the arms of said lever having projections 38 located on the inner sides of the pawls 83. This lever 36 has one of its arms coupled by a link 39 to one end of an arm l0 forming part of the feeler arm 2. This device acts as follows :VVhen the feeler arm 2 moves to the right as the fabric moves out of its proper centre line the arm 40 and its coupling link 39 descend by gravity so rocking the lever 36 about its pivotal centre to the right and causing the right hand projection 38 to move the right hand pawl 33 out of the right hand notch 85 of the disc 24 against the influence of the pawl spring and at the same time causing the left hand projection 88 to allow the left hand pawl 33 to be brought into contact with the left hand notch 35 on disc 24 and as the threearmed lever 28 is constantly reciprocating the next action causes the left hand pawl to move the disc 2& clock-wise and so causing it to raise the roller 1" and consequently the arm 0 which, in turn, lifts the lower guide roller it into contact with the fabric with the result that the latter is pulled back towards the left. As the fabric reaches its central position the left hand pawl is disengaged from the disc and the right hand pawl brought into engagement so moving the disc in the opposite direction and allowing the roller r and arm 0 to descend, thus disengaging the guide roller it from the fabric.

In the further modification shown in F ig. 7, arm 0 and rollers 1 and s are arranged as in Figs. 1 to S and the separation of the rollers is carried out by wedge shaped member it which pivoted on a pin 41 carried by a disc- 2r mounted on a shaft such disc having notches 35 in its periphery as in Figs. 5 and 6. A three armed lever as in Figs. 5 and 6 is also coupled to an eccentric or like driving device and also -arries pawls which are operated as previously described. There is also used a V-shaped lever 36 as in i igs. 5 and 6 coupled in the same manner as in those figures to the feeler arm 2. This disc 2% is operated as in Figs. 5 and 6 to cause the wedge member a to separate the rollers r and s and move away from them in the manner previously described.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is '1. Cloth guiding apparatus, comprising a stationary driving roller, a pressure relic].- arr-L-mged below the driving roller, a pivoted frame supporting the pressure roller, a piv0ted lifting lever provided with an adjusting device which bears on the underside of the said frame and regulates the height of the pressure roller, a pivoted feeler which bears against one edge of the cloth, and means for automatically raising and lowering the said lifting lever controlled by the said feeler and operating to place the cloth into and out of contact with the driving roller.

2. (lloth guiding apparatus, comprising a plate for supporting the cloth provided with a slot, a driving roller arranged over the slot and provided with means for revolving it continuously, a pressure roller arranged under the said slot, a pivoted frame supporting the pressure roller, a pivoted feeler which bears against one edge of the cloth, a pivoted lifting lever provided with means for raising and lowering the pivoted frame and pressure roller, a second pivoted lever provided with projections and provided with driving mechanism for oscillating it, and a double-arn'ied lever pivoted to the said lifting lever and'controlled by the said feeler and operating to place the doublearmed lever in engagement with the said proj ections alternately to actuate the pivoted lifting lever.

3. In mechanismv for guiding fabrics into stentering and other machines characterized by a constantly driven roller above the selvedge of the fabric and by a frictionallydriven roller below the selvedge of the fabric the means for raising such second roller into contact with the fabric and for lowering it'out of contact with the fabric comprising a feeler device pivoted so as to move laterally with the fabric, a pivoted frame carrying the lower guiding roller, a pivoted member supporting said pivoted frame, ro lers carried by the pi oted member and a stationary portion of the machine frame and a wedgeshapcd member adaptei'l to be operated through the action of the feeler device to separate said rollers to force the lower guide roller into contact with the cloth and to remove said roller from the cloth by the withdrawal of the wedge-sh aped member.

4-. In mechanism for guiding fabrics into stentering and other machines characterized by a constantly driven roller above the selvedge of the fabric and by a frictionally driven roller below the selvedge of the C fabric, the means for raising such second roller into contact with the fabric and for lowering it out of contact therewith consisting of a feeler device pivoted so as to move laterally with the fabric, a pivoted. double-armed lever adapted to be rocked about its centre by the feeler device, a pivoted lever carrying the double-armed lever and a pivoted wedge-shaped member, apivoted frame Carrying the lower guiding roller, a pivoted member supporting .said pivoted frame, rollers carried by the pivoted member and a stationary portion of the machine frame respectively to co-act with the 5 wedge-shaped member, and a cam operated lever carrying projections for moving the double-armed lever and the lever on which it is pivoted to force the wedge shaped member into or out of contact with its (:0- acting roller. 10

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE DURRANT. 

